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Home Improvement Just Got Easier

August 24, 2011 By 10 Comments

So over the course of the last few months we have done a lot of “home improvement” type stuff – from painting the hallway to installing a new mantle  to building a Cinder Block Garden.  In the past I have just trekked up to our neighborhood Lowe’s or Home Depot for what I wanted, wish I had a bigger selection to choose from.  This week I was excited to find a site that has everything that I want – and I can get it delivered right to my door!  Mike is REALLY excited I wont have to keep using the Escalade as a “hauling truck”  :)

I actually discovered this site looking for a Garden Arbor to add to our back yard.  I have always loved the look of these and thought it would be a great addition to our short little fence that leads to where our vegetable garden is.  Garden Arbors are such a great way to really add some character to the entrance of a garden.   I love the ones that look almost “whimsical” – like there should be magic or fairies or something in the garden behind them.  (Plus then I have an excuse to get more purple Wisteria!!)

Then, last month we installed a new garbage disposal, which was an absolute nightmare, because truth be told we probably need a new sink.  It took four days – and three men – working on it to get it to stop leaking.  Who knew you could order kitchen sinks from the internet!?  If that bad boy starts leaking again, I will for sure just order a whole new sink!

I continued perusing this site – which offers just about everything you can possibly imagine – and fell in love with this glass top dining table which I think will replace the one we have just perfectly, so we can move ours into the “kitchen nook” which only sports a lonely rocking chair.   I hope to install French Doors in the kitchen leading out to the back yard and really start using that area of the kitchen for the girls to do their homework, eat breakfast, play games, etc instead of always using our dining room table.   Maybe it is the Post-Apartment Manager Staging Fanatic in me but I would much rather the dining room table be a place to put our China or glass vases filled with fruit or something pretty like that.

Between this new site and Pinterest, I am sure I will  have many more “projects” to do soon!  Did you do any Home Improvement projects this year?  Or do you have any planned for the Fall?


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DIY Cinder Block Garden Phase One (and Why I Wish I Had Paid Attention in Geometry)

July 24, 2011 By 21 Comments

Lately I have found myself addicted surfing Pinterest for cool ideas on stuff to cook, great sayings, crafts for the holidays, and sooo much more.  Last week I saw this one, and today my friend Kim “repinned” it and even put it on Facebook.  I have to admit, it TOTALLY flung a craving on me.

I started my day with a crazy intense workout, so in hindsight doing this today was well… stupid.  However, the project turned out so amazing, it kinda makes up for the fact that I am typing this barely able to move anything more than my hands.

We have had an ongoing issue with a corner of our backyard.  It is COMPLETELY covered, so literally almost zero sunlight reaches the ground, making it virtually impossible to grow any grass.   Plus on one side we have little rabid, possessed pomeranians that get their kicks out of taunting our dogs, and on the other side we have a wildly overgrown (yet beautiful, I will give it that) backyard housing several billion mosquitoes.

So I decided to basically BLOCK both of these nuisances with a Cinder Block Garden!  Now, when I saw this on Pinterest, I Googled to find more, and well… I am going to give you the REAL D-I-Y on how to do this thing.

How To Make A Cinder Block Garden

Materials needed:

  • no less than 40 double cinder blocks
  • no less than 10 single cinder blocks
  • rebar – the 48′ ones
  • a rubber mallet
  • a level
  • landscaping fabric
  • wire or plastic mesh to help make the “plant baskets” in the protruding cinder blocks
  • lots and lots of soil or dirt or sand
  • various plants – succulents, ivys, cactus…
  • BUG SPRAY… ugh.
  • a hand towel… tucked into your shorts to wipe the sweat that will pour profusely from you because you picked the hottest day in history to do this while getting occasional rain showers putting the humidity at like 1,000%
  • a strapping young man to carry said cinder blocks from the back of the truck to the back yard (I wish)

Step 1: Do your best to level the ground you will be building this thing on.  For those of you wise enough to put it on a concrete slab… well, live a little, would ya? It is much more fun to spend no less than a half an hour saying “Is this level?” “Where is the bubble supposed to be?” “Taylor, it is an earthworm – RELAX!”  “Is it too early for wine?” and “Whose idea was this!?”

Step 2: Lay out your first level to whatever the largest size you want.  Since we were trying to cover a good bit of “the hell corner” I chose to go 5 double cinder blocks down each side.   Stick rebar into the holes and use the mallet to pound them down at least 12 inches into the ground to secure… knowing full well you will probably rearrange them a minimum of five times.  They should protrude out, as you will “thread” them through the holes of the rest of the cinder blocks for support. 

Step 3:  Continue to build up your garden, alternating blocks sticking “out” -to make what will be a little planter. (stifling the inner OCD that wants to make sure the garden is completely symmetrical – trust me, it looks better random)  Now, let me stop here and say that I recommend that you bring every single block into the back yard before beginning to build, as it is virtually impossible to visualize what it will look like as a finished product well enough to put the pieces together. It was at this moment I was wishing I could call my old Geometry teacher and scream “I DID need to know that after all!”

Step 4: Continue building upwards until you are happy with the results.  Remember that random is the key to success here, and do not be overly fanatical about everything lining up perfectly or being symmetrical.  Once you are happy with the results, use the mallet to pounds the rest of the protruding rebar into the ground to be flush (and otherwise hidden) in the cinder blocks.

Step 5: Pour sand/dirt/soil down into each hole and pack it down as much as you can.  This will be to further secure the structure, as well as for roots to grow from all of the little plants! I will be going back to Lowe’s to get the Children’s Sandbox Sand as I think that it helps ward off ants.

This is as far as we got today – exhausted and sore from the workout as well as moving 50 cinder blocks – but it also began to rain.  Tomorrow we will be planting all of our plants – and I will show you how to make the little planter baskets to go inside – but today I just placed them around so you can see kinda what the finished product will look like:

Oh, even Indi loves it!

Tomorrow I will post how to make the little “planter baskets” to secure your plants in the protruding cinder blocks.

All in all I have to say this is one of my most favorite DIY projects ever.  From start to finish (well, of phase one) was about 4 hours.  I love when I can have an idea, and within just a few hours have a finished product that I can show off and feel good about.  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon with The Tween – she was a big help and we had a lot of good laughs – mostly at my expense, but it was still a great time.

I would highly recommend this project to anyone wanting a unique, fun way to have a garden!